Gianni Versace may have built his brand on sexy silhouettes, but what his sister Donatella brought, both before and following his passing, is beyond “sexy” (a dangerous and overused word). A lover of rock music, she has consistently added a palpable confidence to the Versace label via her glamazons, an approach which has become her signature.
Today, Donatella Versace celebrated her muse by taking her show out of the Versace headquarters on Via Gesù and into a huge space fit for a rave, with guests seated alongside a zigzagging runway. Techno music started blasting, “Do I have a life or am I just living?” Then, out walked Raquel Zimmerman in a tailored military jacket followed by an army of top models in the most wearable of Versace collections in a long time. Donatella, wanting to prove a point about women’s conditions (the show notes mentioned that Versace would make a donation to the NGO Equality Now), made her focus on a woman’s life in a more grounded way—with her slew of struggles and need for comfort and versatility in her clothes. “This is a collection for the way women live their lives today; it mixes tailoring with sportswear and effortless glamour,” she explained.
The tailoring was not only on point but also far more contemporary than past collections, which tended to veer towards Versace’s ‘90s heyday. Here, the frayed textiles; wool striped suits with knotted skirt opening in the front; military green wool skirts paired with mesh shirts; striped shirts; illusion tweed meets utility jacket; and the camouflage print in shades of violet, yellow, green, and black, were all on point with other luxury houses yet showcased the freshness of a young designer who is on the pulse of now. Donatella’s gang of protégés and friends including Anthony Vaccarello, J.W. Anderson, and Riccardo Tisci must be delighted.
